At first blush, it appears gratifying to finally have Congress pass and the President sign into law the Border Fence Act of 2006. Our goal at the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has always been to see the rule of law brought back to the border. We have sought to show the government what we think homeland security should look like and how achievable and cost effective absolute operational control of our border can be. When you have obvious vigilance at the border you vastly decrease the current steady waves of migrant trafficking, drug dealers, possible terrorists, gang members, rapists, thieves, weapons and sex traders, and untold contraband into our country.

As important a first step in long-overdue federal action this legislation may seem to be, some wise and experienced legislators have raised important and unavoidable questions as to whether the Department of Homeland Security intends to actually fund the proposed 700 miles of fencing authorized by this legislation. Other critical questions revolve around the technology and budgetary standards of the proposed fence design and construction. We need to build an actual fence, not just endlessly propose border security options. Politicians and bureaucrats must stop playing “virtual� smoke and mirrors games that threaten our national security and unnecessarily cost American taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars.

The cost of the “virtual� fence scheme being discussed by DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff is astronomically inflated from real-world necessity. Some estimates have been as high as $3 million per mile.

The Minutemen are building real, actual, cutting-edge technology fencing and barriers at a mere fraction of the cost of such proposed “virtual� fence designs. Why would we not build an actual fence that actually works? It is unconscionable that we should waste millions or billions of dollars at home to gratuitously construct a highly questionable “virtual� security barrier that no one can see at our borders—lest we offend sensibilities abroad—as we exercise our right and duty to secure our sovereign borders. As the Bush administration reminds us daily: we are at war. Meeting the need to immediately and effectively secure our borders without pointlessly putting this country further into debt should be the priority for this government.

In the unlikely event this “approved� 700 miles of security fencing were ever built by this government—that commitment still is woefully inadequate. Real interior enforcement measures must be enacted by Congress placing tough mandates on the executive branch to enforce our laws and discourage the employment and residence of illegal aliens. The attractive nuisance of our government’s offer to foreign nationals to come live America’s good life without the duties and obligations of law-abidingness draws literally thousands of illegal aliens across our wide-open borders every single day, among which all sorts of ugliness—like organized crime, drug cartels and international terrorism—hide.

We should not have to remind our government that it was the illegal alien black market underground that allowed some 9/11 hijackers to acquire documentation and drivers licenses, thus plane tickets and the boarding passes necessary to commandeer the jets terrorists flew into our World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The success of these attacks was a direct result of arbitrarily choosing which laws are enforced. We either have the rule of law in this country or we do not. It is vital to the survival of this nation in freedom that we have a robust interior enforcement system to identify and neutralize those willfully skirting our laws through systematic, fraudulent means. The war against terror demands that we halt this illegal activity of infiltration of our sovereign territory.

Moreover, it is irresponsible to even discuss any proposed amnesty cum guest worker “path to citizenship� disguised as “comprehensive immigration reform� as our borders lay wide open to exploitation, and are routinely and promiscuously violated. In some areas the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has been on patrol, we have documented a tenfold increase in the number of those illegally crossing the borders caused by the current reckless talk of amnesty by some in our government. As these numbers grow in volume and scope, the international criminal cartels gain even more control over our border frontiers, the black market underground swells with document fraud and identity theft, and the drug and contraband turf wars accelerate. More gang violence erupts in our cities by murderous thugs such as MS-13, the ruthless gang of self-professed friends of al Qaeda who, by our own government’s estimation, number in the tens of thousands in cities across America. National security and public safety demand that we make securing our borders combined with serious interior enforcement the first and most urgent priority of Homeland Security.

Rep. Michael McCaul’s House Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee report on the status of our borders should also serve as a jarring wake-up call to our elected representatives. If members of Hezbollah crossing our borders assisted by the global terror network’s good friends Cuba, Iran, and now Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, will not move our government into action, the average citizen must ask what it will take. There is a gathering storm of terrorist alliances throughout the Middle East, Far East and Latin America that wish this nation great harm. Would thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Americans lost to a chemical, nuclear or biological attack of catastrophic proportions finally get our government’s priorities straight? If this scenario is not on the mind of every government official sworn to protect and defend this country, then they are criminally negligent in their sworn duty.

The 6,000 mostly unarmed National Guard troops that were promised at the borders have proved to be another attempt at smoke and mirrors. There is no “there� there. Not only is this a grossly inadequate number of troops to actually secure the border, but these brave men and women are being placed in the same demoralizing position that this administration forces on our Border Patrol: they are outmanned and outgunned by design. Two Border Patrol agents were recently sentenced to over 11 years each in prison for wounding a known drug smugger on the American side of the border. Our government gave the drug smuggler immunity to testify against these brave men in court. Important information was withheld from the trial, and three jurors have now come forth with claims of intimidation to vote “guilty� in the trial verdict. This is a gross miscarriage of justice and absolutely insane policy for a sovereign nation that results in a significant collapse of morale in the ranks of the Border Patrol and the military at our borders.

As this grotesque political dance continues in Washington, D.C., the 250,000 (and growing daily) members and supporters of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will maintain a watchful eye and an active involvement with events at the borders to inform the public if the government is keeping the promise this first-step legislation may represent.

The Minutemen will remain vigilant, active and engaged in our on-going border watch patrols, and in constructing actual and affordable, double-layered, high-tech security fencing along the southern border on private land using private donations. What we have today from our government is a promise and nothing more. We have had promises before. It is imperative that our government actually follow through this time on their pledge to secure our borders. Their track record on follow through is abysmal. Perhaps this administration needs to learn what the meaning of the word “isâ€? is. It “is” no wonder why the American people no longer trust this government to act responsibly in securing our borders, nor why approval ratings for both Congress as a whole and the President have plummeted to embarrassing lows.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has stood watch on our frontiers for nearly two years, and we will continue to bring national awareness to the crisis of our broken borders. The fact remains that the United States borders are anything but secure. We will remain at our posts until American national security is as much in deed the priority for our federal government as it has finally become in speech—and that will be when our borders are actually, not “virtually,� secured.

Chris Simcox is the founder and president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a nationwide grassroots organization with border watch patrols along the northern and southern United States borders.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 11:52 am and is filed under Politics, Homeland Security .